JP2005159649A - Mail sending method and mobile communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically send mails to prevent the congesting condition in a communication environment from being furthered. <P>SOLUTION: The mail sending method comprises (steps 141-145 of) a step of deciding whether the communication environment is estimated to be in a congested state for a mobile communication terminal when the power is set on, it moves to enter a service area from outside, or a cell of a mobile communication network covering the present location changes as the movement result; and (step 147 of) automatically sending a mail saved in a memory to be automatically sent, if the decision is negative. Or, if the communication environment is estimated to be in a congested state for the mobile communication terminal as the decision result, it is observed whether the congested state has been solved on its estimation. If the congested state is estimated to be solved, the mail saved in the memory to be automatically sent is automatically sent. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a mail transmission method and a mobile communication terminal device, and more particularly, a mail transmission method for transmitting a mail to be automatically transmitted stored in a memory of the mobile communication terminal device, and a movement using the mail communication method. The present invention relates to a communication terminal device.

  Conventionally, mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones have been widely used. Such a mobile terminal device has a mail processing function (composition of mail, transmission / reception of mail, display of received mail content, etc.) in addition to the voice call function, and transmission / reception of mail using the mobile terminal device is possible. It is actively done.

  In such mail transmission / reception by the mobile terminal device, in addition to individual mail transmission, automatic continuous transmission of a plurality of mails (hereinafter also referred to as “automatic continuous mail transmission”) is performed. ing. When such a plurality of mails are continuously transmitted, the user of the mobile communication terminal device operates the operation unit of the mobile communication terminal device to select a plurality of mails to be continuously automatically transmitted, and then issues a transmission command. A plurality of selected emails are sent sequentially.

In addition, for example, a “sending reserved mail function” technology that automatically sends a mail that has been created in advance, such as automatically sending a mail that has been created outside the service area when it moves into the service area, has been put into practical use (non- Patent Document 1).
ZDNet, “Vodafone, high-brightness liquid crystal“ V301D ”and megapixel“ V401SH ”announced”, [on line], 2003.10.6, [October 28, 2003 search], Internet <URL: http: //www.zdnet .co.jp / mobile / 0310/06 / n_vodafone.html>

  The automatic continuous transmission of a plurality of mails and the automatic transmission of mails by the transmission reservation mail function in the conventional mobile communication terminal device described above are very excellent from the viewpoint of improving the convenience for the user. However, since the mail is automatically transmitted, there is a possibility that the traffic volume is dramatically increased as compared with the manual mail transmission.

  For this reason, if the automatic continuous transmission of a plurality of mails and the automatic mail transmission by the transmission reservation mail function described above are performed in an area where the traffic congestion occurs, the traffic congestion is promoted. Furthermore, when the mobile communication terminal device that performs these automatic transmissions has a mail retransmission function, the traffic congestion may be seriously promoted.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mail transmission method capable of preventing the congestion state from being promoted in a communication environment by automatic mail transmission.

  It is another object of the present invention to provide a mobile communication terminal device that can prevent congestion from being promoted in a communication environment by automatic mail transmission.

  A mail transmission method according to the present invention is a mail transmission method for transmitting a mail to be automatically transmitted stored in a memory of a mobile communication terminal device, wherein the mobile communication terminal device has a communication environment for the mobile communication terminal device. A congestion determination step for determining whether or not it is estimated to be in a congestion state; and a first mail for transmitting the mail to be automatically transmitted by the mobile communication terminal device when the determination in the congestion determination step is negative A congestion elimination process for judging whether or not the mobile communication terminal apparatus is no longer in the congestion state of the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal apparatus when the determination in the congestion determination process is affirmative A second mail transmission step in which the mobile communication terminal device transmits the mail to be automatically transmitted when the determination in the congestion elimination determination step is affirmative; It is an e-mail transmission method comprising a.

  In this mail transmission method, when the power is turned on, moved from outside the service area to the service area, or when the cell of the mobile communication network covering the current position has changed as a result of the movement, in the congestion determination step, the mobile communication terminal apparatus It is determined whether it is estimated that the communication environment is congested. When a negative determination is made in this congestion determination step, that is, when the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal device is not in a congested state, an automatic saved in the memory of the mobile communication terminal device in the first mail transmission step An email to be sent is sent.

  On the other hand, when an affirmative determination is made in the congestion determination step, that is, when the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal device is in a congestion state, the congestion elimination determination step is executed thereafter to perform communication for the mobile communication terminal device. It is determined whether it is estimated that the environment is no longer congested. While a negative determination is made in this congestion elimination determination step, that is, while it is estimated that the congestion state continues in the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal device, it is stored in the memory of the mobile communication terminal device. Stop sending emails that should be sent automatically. When a negative determination is made in the congestion elimination determination step, that is, when it is estimated that the congestion state has been eliminated in the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal device, in the second mail transmission step, the memory of the mobile communication terminal device is stored. The stored mail to be sent automatically is sent.

  That is, in the mail transmission method of the present invention, when the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal device is in a congested state, automatic mail transmission is postponed. Then, when it is estimated that the congestion state has been eliminated, automatic mail transmission is executed. Therefore, according to the mail transmission method of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the automatic communication of the mail from promoting the congestion state of the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal device.

  In the mail transmission method of the present invention, in the congestion determination step, when the mobile communication terminal device continuously fails at least once for new location registration by communication with the same base station, the mobile communication terminal device It can be assumed that the communication environment for the terminal device is in a congestion state. In this case, it is performed at the first stage when the power is turned on, moved from outside the service area, or when the cell of the position mobile communication network covering the current position has changed as a result of the movement. It is determined whether or not the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal apparatus is in a congested state based on the result of location registration that is likely to fail when the environment is in a congested state. For this reason, it is possible to determine whether or not the communication environment is in a congested state by an appropriate timing and method.

  Further, in the mail transmission method of the present invention, in the congestion elimination determination step, the mobile communication terminal apparatus is newly updated by communication with a base station that is different from the base station with which the mobile communication terminal apparatus was communicating. When the location registration does not fail continuously for a predetermined number of times, it can be estimated that the congestion state of the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal device has been eliminated. In this case, the location registration is performed at the first stage when the cell of the location mobile communication network covering the current location changes as a result of the movement, and is highly likely to fail when the communication environment is in a congested state. Based on the result, it is determined whether or not the congestion state of the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal apparatus has been eliminated. For this reason, it is possible to determine whether or not the congestion state of the communication environment has been eliminated by an appropriate timing and method.

  In the mail transmission method of the present invention, in the congestion elimination determination step, when the mobile communication terminal apparatus has successfully completed a communication operation other than transmission of mail to be automatically transmitted, communication for the mobile communication terminal apparatus is performed. It can be assumed that the congestion state of the environment has been eliminated. In this case, when the congestion state continues, the mobile communication terminal device moves when the communication operation other than the automatic transmission of pending mail among the communication operations that are likely to end abnormally ends normally. It is estimated that the congestion state of the communication environment for the communication terminal device has been eliminated. For this reason, it can be determined by an appropriate method whether the congestion state of the communication environment has been eliminated.

  In the mail transmission method of the present invention, the determination result that the mobile communication terminal apparatus is in the congestion state can be reset when power is turned on again. In this case, it is not necessary to allocate the nonvolatile writable / readable storage area in the mobile communication terminal device to the storage of the determination result that the mobile communication terminal apparatus is in the congestion state.

  A mobile communication terminal device according to the present invention includes a memory for storing mail to be automatically transmitted; a congestion state determination unit for determining whether or not a communication environment for transmitting the mail to be automatically transmitted is in a congestion state; A congestion elimination determination unit that determines whether or not a communication environment for transmitting the mail to be automatically transmitted is no longer in a congestion state after a positive determination is made by the congestion determination unit; And an automatic mail transmitting means for transmitting the mail to be automatically transmitted when a positive determination is made and when a positive determination is made by the congestion elimination determining means.

  In this mobile communication terminal apparatus, when the power is turned on, the mobile communication terminal apparatus moves from outside the service area or the cell of the mobile communication network covering the current position changes as a result of the movement, the mobile communication terminal apparatus It is determined whether the communication environment for the user is estimated to be in a congested state. If the determination result is negative, the mail stored in the memory is transmitted by the mail transmitting means.

  On the other hand, when the determination result by the congestion determination unit is affirmative, it is determined by the congestion elimination determination unit whether or not it is estimated that the congestion state of the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal device is lost. While the result of this determination is negative, the automatic transmission of the mail to be automatically transmitted stored in the memory is postponed. Then, when the determination result by the congestion elimination determination means becomes affirmative, the mail to be automatically transmitted stored in the memory is automatically transmitted by the mail transmission means.

  That is, the mobile communication terminal device of the present invention can perform mail transmission using the above-described mail transmission method of the present invention. Therefore, according to the mobile communication terminal apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the congestion state of the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal apparatus from being promoted by mail transmission.

  As described above, according to the mail transmission method of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the congestion state from being promoted in the communication environment by automatically transmitting the mail from the mobile communication terminal device.

  In addition, according to the mobile communication terminal device of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the congestion state in the communication environment from being promoted by automatic transmission of mail.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 schematically show the configuration of a form telephone 10 which is a mobile communication terminal apparatus according to an embodiment. Here, FIG. 1A shows a front view of the appearance of the mobile phone 10, and FIG. 1B shows a rear view of the appearance of the mobile phone 10. FIG. 2 shows a functional block configuration of the mobile phone 10.

  As comprehensively shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the mobile phone 10 includes (a) a mobile phone body 11 including a control unit 21, a transmission / reception unit 22, and a storage unit 23; An operation unit 12 having a function key for inputting various commands such as a ten-key for inputting to the operation mode and switching to an operation mode to the control unit 21, and (c) operation guidance according to the command from the control unit 21, And a display unit 13 having a liquid crystal display device for displaying an operation status, a received message, and the like. Further, the mobile phone 10 includes (d) a call speaker 14 that reproduces an audio signal sent from a communication partner during a call, a microphone 15 for inputting sound during the call, and (e) a command from the control unit 21. And a guidance speaker 16 for generating a ringtone and a guidance sound. Further, the mobile phone 10 includes (f) an antenna 17 that is connected to the transmission / reception unit 22 and exchanges radio signals with the base station.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 21 includes a location registration processing unit 26 for performing location registration processing of the mobile phone 10 and an email reserved for automatic transmission (hereinafter referred to as “reservation email”). The reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 for performing the transmission processing of the above and various communication processing units 28 for performing communication processing other than the reservation mail transmission processing are provided. Here, the location registration processing unit 26 notifies the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 of the success or failure of the location registration processing. The various communication processing units 28 notify the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 when communication processing other than the reservation mail transmission processing such as call processing and mail reception processing is normally completed. Yes.

  In the present embodiment, the control unit 21 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processing unit (DSP), and the like, and various data are provided to realize a mobile phone function including mail transmission / reception processing. While performing processing, operation control of the other component mentioned above is performed. Here, the location registration processing unit 26, the mail transmission processing unit 27, and the various communication processing units 28 are configured by programs executed by the control unit 21.

  Next, an operation of transmitting the transmission reservation mail stored in the storage unit 23 by the mobile phone 10 configured as described above will be described mainly with reference to FIGS.

  It is assumed that a reservation mail has already been stored in the storage unit 23. In addition, it is assumed that a new location registration is performed when the power is turned on, the cell moves from outside the service area, or the cell of the mobile communication network covering the current position changes as a result of the movement. .

  First, processing by the location registration processing unit 26 will be described.

  When a new location registration is performed, the location registration processing unit 26 notifies the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 to that effect in step 111 of FIG. Subsequently, in step 112, the location registration processing unit 26 performs location registration processing. This location registration processing is performed by the location registration processing unit 26 transmitting a location registration call to a base station with which a radio link is established.

  Next, in step 113, the location registration processing unit 26 notifies the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 of the location registration processing result of success or failure of the location registration processing regardless of whether or not the location registration processing is successful. . Subsequently, in step 114, the location registration processing unit 26 determines whether the location registration processing is successful. If this determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 112, and the above-described location registration trial process is repeated. If a positive determination is made in step 114, the location registration process ends.

  Next, processing by the various communication processing units 28 will be described. The various communication processes other than the reservation mail transmission by the various communication processing units 28 are started in response to a command by an operation performed by the user or a command of various communication processes such as a call or an incoming mail.

  That is, in step 121 of FIG. 4, it is determined whether the various communication processing units 28 have received various communication processing commands. If this determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 121 and determines again whether or not various communication processing commands have been received.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step 121 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 122. In step 122, the various communication processing units 28 perform communication processing for which the start notification has been made. When this communication process ends, in step 123, the various communication processing units 28 determine whether or not the communication process has ended normally.

  If the determination in step 123 is negative, the process proceeds to step 124. In step 124, abnormal termination processing such as error display is performed. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step 121 and waits for reception of notifications of various communication communication processes. Until the location registration processing by the location registration processing unit 26 succeeds, the communication processing by the various communication processing units 28 ends abnormally.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step 123 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 125. In step 125, normal end processing such as normal end display is performed. In step 126, the various communication processing units 28 notify the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 that the normal processing has been performed. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step 121 and waits for reception of notifications of various communication communication processes.

  Next, processing by the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 will be described.

  When the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 receives a notification from the location registration processing unit to register a new location in step 111 described above, it sets the congestion flag to OFF in step 131 of FIG. The congestion flag is assigned to a specific position in the storage unit 23.

  Subsequently, in step 132, the mail transmission processing unit 27 resets the position registration count value (PRC) to zero. The position registration count value is assigned to a position in the storage unit 23 that is different from the congestion flag position.

  In this way, the processing by the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 upon notification of the start of new location registration is completed.

  Further, when the notification of the result of the location registration process in step 113 described above is received from the location registration processor 26, the reserved mail transmission processor 27 determines whether or not the congestion flag is ON in step 141 of FIG. If this determination is affirmative, the process by the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 accompanying the notification of the location registration result ends.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step 141 is negative, the process proceeds to step 142. In step 142, the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 determines whether or not the location registration is successful based on the notified location registration result.

  If the determination in step 142 is negative, the process proceeds to step 143. In step 143, the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 increments the location registration count value. Subsequently, in step 144, the reserved mail transmission processing unit 27 determines whether or not the incremented location registration count value is greater than a predetermined number N. In the present embodiment, the predetermined number N is 2.

  If the determination in step 144 is negative, the processing by the reserved mail transmission processing unit 27 accompanying the notification of the location registration result ends. On the other hand, if the determination in step 144 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 145.

  In step 145, the reserved mail transmission processing unit 27 sets the congestion flag to ON. And the process by the reservation mail transmission process part 27 accompanying the notification of a location registration result is complete | finished.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step 142 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 146. In step 146, the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 determines whether or not the reservation mail is stored in the storage unit 23. If this determination is negative, the processing by the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 accompanying the notification of the location registration result ends.

  If the determination in step 146 is affirmative, that is, if the communication environment is not congested and the reserved mail is stored in the storage unit 23, the process proceeds to step 147. In step 147, the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 automatically transmits a reservation mail. And the process by the reservation mail transmission process part 27 accompanying the notification of a location registration result is complete | finished.

  In addition, when the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 receives the notification of normal termination in step 126 described above from the various communication processing units 28, the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 determines whether or not the congestion flag is ON in step 151 of FIG. If this determination is negative, the processing by the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 in response to the notification of the normal end of various communication processes other than the reservation mail transmission ends.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step 151 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 152. In step 152, the reserved mail transmission processing unit 27 sets the congestion flag to OFF.

  Subsequently, in step 153, the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 determines whether or not the reservation mail is stored in the storage unit 23. If this determination is negative, the processing by the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 in response to the notification of the normal end of various communication processes other than the reservation mail transmission ends.

  If the determination in step 153 is affirmative, that is, if the congestion state in the communication environment has been resolved and the reservation mail is stored in the storage unit 23, the process proceeds to step 154. In step 154, the reservation mail transmission processing unit 27 automatically transmits a reservation mail. And the process by the reservation mail transmission process part 27 accompanying the notification of the normal end of various communication processes other than the reservation mail transmission ends.

  As described above, in this embodiment, when the power is turned on, the mobile phone moves from outside the service area, or the cell of the mobile communication network covering the current position changes as a result of the movement, It is determined whether or not the communication environment is estimated to be in a congestion state. If this determination is negative, the reservation mail stored in the storage unit 23 is automatically transmitted. On the other hand, when it is determined that the communication environment for the mobile phone 10 is estimated to be in a congested state, it is observed whether it is estimated that the communication state is no longer in the congested state. While it is estimated that the congestion state continues in the communication environment for the mobile phone 10, the automatic transmission of the reservation mail is postponed. When it is estimated that the congestion state has been eliminated, a reservation mail is automatically transmitted. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent the congestion state of the communication environment for the mobile phone 10 from being promoted by automatic transmission of the reservation mail.

  It is also performed at the initial stage when the power is turned on, moved from outside the service area to the service area, or when the cell of the position mobile communication network covering the current position changes as a result of the movement, and the communication environment is congested. It is determined whether or not the communication environment for the mobile phone 10 is in a congested state based on the result of location registration that is likely to fail when in the state. Therefore, it is possible to determine whether or not the communication environment is in a congested state with appropriate timing and method.

  Also, as a result of the location registration, which is performed at the first stage when the cell of the location mobile communication network covering the current location changes, and the location registration result that is likely to fail when the communication environment is in a congested state, It is determined whether or not the congestion state of the communication environment for the mobile phone 10 has been resolved. For this reason, it is possible to determine whether or not the congestion state of the communication environment has been eliminated by an appropriate timing and method.

  Further, when the congestion state continues, when communication operations other than the automatic transmission of pending reservation mail among the communication operations that are likely to end abnormally in the mobile phone 10 are normally completed, the mobile phone 10 It is estimated that the congestion state of the communication environment has been eliminated. For this reason, it can be determined by an appropriate method whether the congestion state of the communication environment has been eliminated.

  In the above-described embodiment, it is estimated that the location is congested if the location registration fails twice in succession. On the other hand, it may be estimated that the location is congested when the location registration is failed once, or is estimated to be congested when the location registration is failed for a predetermined number of times three or more times. It is good.

  In the above embodiment, the number of reservation mails is not particularly described. However, the number of reservation mails may be one or two or more. Furthermore, when automatic transmission of the reservation mail fails, it may be retried.

  In the above embodiment, the congestion flag is always turned off whenever the power is turned on. On the other hand, the ON / OFF state of the congestion flag at the time of power OFF before turning the power ON is maintained as it is, and the ON / OFF of the congestion flag is changed depending on the result of position registration after the power ON. You may do it.

  In the above embodiment, the mobile communication terminal apparatus is a mobile phone. However, the present invention can be applied to other types of mobile communication terminal apparatuses.

  As described above, the mail transmission method of the present invention can be applied to the transmission of mail to be automatically transmitted stored in the memory of the mobile communication terminal device. Further, the mobile communication terminal apparatus of the present invention can be applied to a mobile communication terminal apparatus having a function of transmitting mail stored in a memory and to be automatically transmitted.

It is a figure which shows schematically the external appearance structure of the mobile telephone which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram for demonstrating the internal structure of the mobile telephone of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the position registration part of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the various communication process parts of FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart (No. 1) for explaining the operation of the reservation mail communication processing unit of FIG. 2. FIG. 6 is a flowchart (part 2) for explaining the operation of the reservation mail communication processing unit of FIG. 2; 6 is a flowchart (No. 3) for explaining the operation of the reservation mail communication processing unit of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Mobile phone (mobile terminal device), 11 ... Mobile phone main body, 12 ... Operation part, 13 ... Display part, 14 ... Speaker for call, 15 ... Microphone, 16 ... Speaker for guidance, 17 ... Antenna, 21 ... Control Reference numeral 22, a transmission / reception unit 23, a storage device 26, a location registration unit 27, a reservation mail transmission processing unit 28, various communication processing units

Claims (6)

A mail transmission method for transmitting a mail to be automatically transmitted stored in a memory of a mobile communication terminal device,
A congestion determination step in which the mobile communication terminal apparatus determines whether or not a communication environment for the mobile communication terminal apparatus is estimated to be in a congestion state;
A first mail transmission step in which the mobile communication terminal device transmits the mail to be automatically transmitted when the determination in the congestion determination step is negative;
A congestion elimination determination step of determining whether or not the mobile communication terminal apparatus is estimated to be out of a congestion state of a communication environment for the mobile communication terminal apparatus when the determination in the congestion determination step is affirmative;
A mail transmission method comprising: a second mail transmission step in which the mobile communication terminal device transmits the mail to be automatically transmitted when the determination in the congestion elimination determination step is affirmative.   In the congestion determination step, the mobile communication terminal apparatus is congested when a new location registration by communication with the same base station has failed continuously at least once. The mail transmission method according to claim 1, wherein the mail transmission method is estimated to be in a state.   In the congestion elimination determination step, the mobile communication terminal device continuously fails a new location registration a predetermined number of times by communication with a base station different from the base station with which the mobile communication terminal device determined to be in a congestion state. 3. The mail transmission method according to claim 1, wherein if it is not performed, it is estimated that a congestion state of a communication environment for the mobile communication terminal apparatus has been eliminated.   In the congestion elimination determination step, the mobile communication terminal apparatus estimates that the congestion state of the communication environment for the mobile communication terminal apparatus has been eliminated when a communication operation other than transmission of mail to be automatically transmitted is normally completed. The mail transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:   The mail transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, in the mobile communication terminal device, when the power is turned on again, a determination result that the congestion state is present is reset. A memory for storing mail to be sent automatically;
Congestion state determination means for determining whether or not the communication environment for transmitting the mail to be automatically transmitted is in a congestion state;
A congestion elimination determination unit that determines whether or not a communication environment for transmitting the mail to be automatically transmitted is not in a congestion state after a positive determination is made by the congestion determination unit;
An automatic mail transmission means for transmitting the mail to be automatically transmitted when a negative determination is made by the congestion determination means and when a positive determination is made by the congestion resolution determination means. Terminal device.

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